The Price of Love
by Ninth Lady
Summary: Set when Yorda becomes a shadow monstergirl. Her thoughts and reflections of Ico and how everything came to be.


The Price of Love  
  
By Ninth Lady  
A/N: This is from the scene at the end when Yorda wakes up a shadow person/girl/monster. My perspective on the end of the game. Game and characters aren't mine, I am making no money off of this, so there.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
I woke up to the sound of the castle crumbling all around me. I looked down at my hands and saw the once pale flesh was now black, inky shadow. The feeling of hopelessness was gone from the room, sign that my mother's tortured slaves were gone; no longer could I hear their souls crying out to me. Something was missing though, if the castle was falling apart, that meant Mother was dead. So where was Ico?  
  
My instincts told me that he was in the throne room. Hoping that I was right, I made my way into the throne room. Memories flooded back to me as I entered. It had been many years since I had last entered this room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
The last time was the day that we had collapsed as a kingdom, the day they told us we had to surrender to the enemy. I remember that we had been normal then, Mother and I. I was sixteen and we had been at war with an enemy kingdom for years. I had fallen in love with a young general from the enemy army before the war, and we continued our relationship during it. That had been our downfall.  
  
Me.  
  
He had betrayed me and they came in an demanded our surrender. They told Mother that this would be much easier if she would just cooperate. Mother refused, and they tried to kill her.  
  
What fools they were.  
  
Mother is a sorceress of darkness, a manipulator of shadows, a keeper of souls. That was how we first got the shadow demons, through them. Yet, using this dreadful power cost her. She was weak when she had finished with them and turned to me.  
  
The look in her eyes was one of someone that was dying and would do anything to live. She knew that I had caused this and she threw me into a cage in a tower near the tortured souls room and the throne room. I would absorb the magic and energy of the souls and she would take that energy from me. "This is the price of your love for him, Yorda." She hissed as she locked the cage.  
  
"This is the price of love."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
I jolted back to my senses and looked around. On the floor lay Ico. His head was bloody where his horns had broken off. I bent down and picked him up. Lifeless as he looked, I could feel that he was still alive, just unconscious.  
  
As I carried him down to the boat, I couldn't help but wonder. Why had he come back after me? Why had he taken so much time and care to help me out in the first place?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
We ran to the gate, finally we had chance. The gate was glowing gold as we stood before it. I reached my hand out and cried out. Magic came from my body in black lightning and opened the gate. I collapsed as soon as the magic was done.  
  
"Are you okay?" Ico peered down anxiously at me. He bent down and touched my hand gently. Worry was present in his eyes. "The gate is open, you should go now before she comes." He couldn't understand what I was saying and just took my hand. Pulling me up, he looked determinedly into my eyes. "Come on, we're going to make it."  
  
He pulled me along until I fell again, seeing that I was weak, he helped me up again. This time, he held my hand and walked along slowly, but I still collapsed. We repeated this until I collapsed for a third time and the bridge began to slide apart. He fell onto the side near the gate to the forest and I collapsed on the side near the castle.  
  
Mother appeared behind me from a void of black. A looked of sadistic amusement crossed her face. "Yorda!" Ico cried out and jumped across the growing distance between us. Mother laughed behind me and I felt something growing inside me.  
  
Ico had gone out of his way so many times to help me. He had thrown away his first chance of escape to help me. Now, he was doing it again.  
  
Mother was zapping my strength again, I could feel my body becoming a shadow. Ico was just about to grab the bridge, but he was a second too late. He was going to miss and fall to his death. I could not let him die. He had caught me so many times, so why couldn't I return the favor?  
  
I grabbed his hand to save him. His sword clattered down to the water below, but that was okay. I had caught him, and that was what mattered. I needed to hold on to him as long as possible. There were cages down there that he could land on if he were above them. I had to hold on until then.  
  
"Why do you bother?" Mother was addressing Ico, but her tone was not evil and sadistic, it was confused. Almost as if the years of ice that had covered her heart were melting.  
  
Then, she looked at me, holding onto his hand as tightly as I could. My body was becoming more and more shadow flesh. I was going to lose him.  
  
Suddenly, my hand turned into shadow flesh, he slipped and cried out as he fell. "YORDA!!!" He screamed as he fell. Tears flowed out of my eyes as I watched the boy fall, most likely to his death. "I'm so sorry." Why did it have to end like this? Why did he have to die? Why did everyone I love get hurt?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
Why did he care? I felt so awful, Mother's constant zapping of my powers and life energy had left me very weak, and opening the gates didn't help. But he had managed to survive it all, so that was what mattered.  
  
Ico was the first person that hadn't used me. He helped me when I was weak and without hope, and for that, I owed him my life.  
  
Carefully, I lowered his body into the boat and stroked his forehead. I shoved the boat from its moorings and pushed the boat into the water.  
  
If anyone deserved the chance to live, it was Ico. Not only was he selfless and kind, he was strong in body and heart. He had overcome the ultimate curse, now finally the sacrifices would stop, the souls were at rest, and so was Mother. Ico had done more in his time here than I had ever been able to do in my centuries of living here.  
  
His boat was almost to the end of the tunnel; he would make it out safely. If only he had ever understood what I had told him, if only I could have communicated to him in a way he understood. This was the last time I would ever see him, and tears pricked my eyes. "Goodbye Ico, I love you."  
  
Love. I had been with that boy not too long, but I understood what love was. He loved me so much that he fought for my freedom and my life. He fought for the right of the souls to be freed of their bonds. All because of his love. My love for him was whole, not some perverted and sexual kind. It was the kind one feels for someone they connect with, the kind that was more than friendship.  
  
I turned back and went back up the elevator. I had some unfinished business to take care of. I made my way to the almost destroyed throne room. This time my mission wasn't Ico it was Mother.  
  
She appeared in her throne, clutching her side and gasping with pain. "Yorda." She looked up at me with a mixture of pain and remorse. "Mother." I replied simply. She reached her hand out towards me, I stepped back, unaware of her intent. Her eyes widened and filled with tears. Tears of sadness and grief. "Yorda, why did I do this to you? My only daughter, my one true love.and this is how I treated you."  
  
I finally understood her. She had been consumed by grief and love. Long ago, she had been upset by his betrayal of my love and had blamed her own failures on me. Her heart had been covered by ice due to the anger in her heart and the shadows that consumed her. Now was not the time for anger and petty grudges. She had done me wrong for centuries, but I still loved her, she was still my mother.  
  
I went to her and we embraced for the first time in eons. "I am so sorry it took me so long to realize I was wrong," she whispered in my ear. I hugged her even more tightly. "No Mother, don't cry. It only matters that we are okay now." Tears streamed down our faces. "No Yorda, nothing can ever make up for what happened. I was scared, I had forgiven you long ago and was going to admit my mistakes and let you free.let us free."  
  
I looked up at her, her hair was blowing everywhere as she gazed into a distance only she could see. "It was then that Ico came and tried to take you from your cage. It was then that I sent one of the shadows to get you back. I was scared to lose you forever without even saying how I felt. I fought you two every step of the way, and he still saved you." She shook her head and sighed.  
  
"Yorda, I am old and have been living this life too long. Ico fought for your right to live. He wanted you.he wanted you to enjoy the life he hasn't been able to, to live a free life without an anathema or disability. I felt it in his soul." She kissed me softly on the forehead and looked at me directly. "Yorda I love you, and nothing can ever change that."  
  
"I love you too Mother.and I don't hate you. I never did.I'm so sorry." I began to cry softly. "I just want Ico to have a life worth living. To know how grateful I am to him for everything. For teaching me how to love again." A smile graced her lips as she brushed some of my hair back. "Yorda, that is the price we all pay. It is the price of love."  
  
With a final kiss and hug, we stood apart and she took the sword that Ico had been using. The Sword of Souls. Holding it above her head, and the black lightning began to dance around.  
  
Just then, the last remains of the roof collapsed in. Yet before the rocks hit, I heard Mother's voice. "Yorda." Then the world disappeared in darkness.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
Ico awoke on a beach he had never seen before. A boat was beside him and waves broke gently around him. "Yorda!" He gasped and ran along the shore. He didn't know where he was going but his heart seemed to be tugging him along.  
  
Something white was lying in the distance. It was small and seemed to glow. He slowed down as he got to it. It was Yorda, lying there with her eyes closed. Scared that she might be dead, Ico bent down and gently touched her arm. Yorda's eyes flew open, no longer where they purple and misty. Now here eyes seemed clear. The sudden amount of light caused her to squint for a second, and then she looked up with a disbelieving smile.  
  
"We're free."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
A/N: Aww, wasn't that nice. I really loved Ico, it was truly a beautiful game. I especially loved the ending and the bridge scene. It has been a while since playing so I had to make up some of Ico's real lines, but I think that I got them right. I add lines and such, and wrote what I thought Yorda probable was saying. I added lines and the whole "history" and scene with her mom. Hey, it made the story nicer. Read and review, give me your thoughts on it. I love hearing from you.  
  
~Ninth Lady~ "The Messiah of Silence" 


End file.
